Police charge 14-year-old girl after threat of school shooting

Winnipeg police say a 14-year-old girl has been arrested following an online threat directed at a Transcona school.

“We always have to take these seriously and we did in this case,” said Const. Rob Carver.

On Monday Arthur Day Middle School went into a hold and secure procedure.

Parents were instructed to pick up their kids at the end of the day.

Police say an online post threatened to start a school shooting.

The 14-year-old was arrested from an address near the school Tuesday evening, and police say she was charged with uttering threats and released to a parent on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

Carver says the threat was not credible.

“The individual did not have access to weapons or explosives and from the sounds of it had no intentions of carrying out the threats.”

The River East Transcona School Division released a statement Wednesday, reading: “We are relieved to hear an arrest has been made regarding the police investigation of social media threats involving Arthur Day Middle school.”

The statement also said, “Division support staff are at the school and the school student services support team is available on an ongoing basis.”

School safety expert and retired police officer Bob Keber believes more threats to schools are being made because of the easy access social media provides.

“People can reach out now and cause these issues just by a click of a button at home, the problem now, resource wise, the police are having to deal with it,” said Keber.

In December more than a dozen schools were closed in Manitoba because of a social media threat.